I saw that Hawthorne’s white fur was marked with red. I couldn’t tell if it was his own blood, or the wolf’s.
The wolf-man backed into a wall, crushing me against the stone. He put all of his force into the blow, winding me. I tried to suck in air, but my lungs would not allow it. I coughed and spluttered, almost losing my grip. A searing pain shot through my chest as I tried to winch myself from between the wolf’s spine and the wall. He slammed me into the stone, again and again. My head spun and my vision blurred. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move.
It was Hawthorne who came to the rescue. The wolf was distracted, intent on hurting me and did not notice that Hawthorne was on his feet again.
It was horrendous, what I saw next. Hawthorne lunged forwards and took the wolf-man’s entire head in his mouth. He bit through his skull as though it was made of butter. Blood and brains sprayed the wall that I was pressed against. I tasted it in my mouth and felt it in my hair. The wolf’s headless body collapsed to the floor in a lifeless heap, vital fluids spilling across the stone.
I fell on top of the dead body, gasping for air. I rolled away from the wolf-man, whose body was slowly returning back to its normal, hairless state. I gagged and spat out the blood. It dripped from my face and clothes. I was covered in the disgusting red liquid.
‘Hawthorne!’ I gasped, reaching for my pet. ‘You didn’t have to kill him!’
Hawthorne gave me a disapproving look. I knew exactly what he was thinking. That guard would not have hesitated to kill me.
‘Th-thank you,’ I stammered, using Hawthorne as leverage to stand. The pain in my chest continued and I knew that I had cracked several ribs. It made it hard to move, but I was too full of adrenalin to care.
I looked around at the fight. Elise and Bran were still taking on the multiplier-Mage, whilst Penny pummelled the shockwave-Mage with her enlarged fists.
Tom was in a headlock with the Water-Mage and Jack was healing my mother and father, who had been thrown off their feet by the force field Mage. Maria and Robert took over their fight.
‘The Healer!’ I heard Martinez shout. His voice was muffled by the force field. ‘Get that damn Healer Mage. We’ll never beat them with him running around fixing their wounds.’
I wondered why Martinez was not taking part in the fray. Perhaps he was not as strong as people made him out to be.
The Water-Mage scrambled to his feet and headed in Jack’s direction. I sent fireball after fireball at the Water-Mage, but it did not seem to affect him much.
Jack got up and sent a punch towards the closest guard, but seemed to hurt his hand more than anything else. They were converging on him. The Water-Mage produced an enormous ball of liquid in the middle of the room, which zoomed towards Jack like an absurd bubble.
I reached out a hand and tried to warn Jack, but it was too late. The sphere of water encased him and Jack floated in the middle of the orb, unable to break free of the watery prison.
I blasted fire at the ball in the hopes of destroying it, but it did not work. My mother and father joined my side, but it was too late. The orb floated through the force field that protected Martinez.
‘Stop!’ Martinez bellowed.
Everyone stopped fighting and looked up at Jack’s floating form. Martinez’s cronies stood up and passed through the force field to stand by their master’s side. I looked around at my friends. Everyone seemed to be okay. Jack had managed to heal most wounds.
Panting, I rounded on Martinez.
‘Let him go!’ I demanded.
Martinez laughed, ‘Do you know how many ways there are to kill a Healer?’
I didn’t answer, because I didn’t want to know. Jack had once told me that Healers were extremely difficult to kill; one of the only ways was by decapitation.
‘There are only three ways,’ Martinez continued.
I watched in fear as Jack struggled to free himself from the water orb. A stream of bubbles issues from his mouth and I could hear his gargled yells of frustration.
‘One. You can cut off their heads or impale them,’ Martinez smiled. ‘Two. If you take away their Power – they are unable to heal. But since we do not have anyone here who can take away Power, I guess I am forced to use the third method. Drowning.’
‘No!’ I ran forwards and attempted to penetrate the force field. It was like hitting an electrified fence. I was thrown back several feet and landed on my buttocks.
Wincing in pain, I got up quickly and prepared myself to fight.
‘Let him go, Martinez,’ my father growled.
‘Hm, no, I don’t think so,’ he replied.
‘He’ll drown!’ I cried. Jack’s face was becoming redder by the second. He was running out of air.